Coming off what had been - to that point - the most successful season in franchise history, New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton found himself in a full-blown crisis in 2007. Just four games into the second season of his young coaching career, Payton's Saints had stumbled to an 0-4 record.

Making matters worse, the Saints had to make a long trip out west to Seattle, a formidable foe that was coming off an NFC West title. Facing the prospects of dropping to 0-5, the Saints traveled to Seattle a day early to shake off the jetlag and were slated to have a walkthrough at Qwest Field.

Instead of the customary day-before-game walkthrough, Payton sent his offensive players to the defensive side of the field and his defensive players with the offensive staff. From there, they had a light-hearted scrimmage, running backs lined up as linebackers and offensive tackles played defensive end.

The last-minute break from the norm lightened the mood around the Saints, taking away much of the mounting pressure that was threatening to smoother the budding contenders.

"The idea of that is at some point the pressures of you have to win, you have to win, you have to win can become overwhelming," Saints right tackle Zach Strief said. "Just remember it's a game. Go have fun, enjoy yourself, fly around."

Some Saints said Payton's tactics spurred them to beat the Seahawks 28-17 the next day, sending the Saints on a four-game winning steak that evened their record to 4-4.

"Sean has always had a very good pulse of the team, understanding when to push and when to let off, when to drive guys and when to back off," Strief said.

With the Saints (2-5) now buried in a similar hole and Payton having been suspended for the entire season for his role in the Saints' bounty scandal, interim coach Joe Vitt is tasked to figure out how to get a struggling Saints team back on track.

Vitt, on more than one occasion, already has stated he is not a miracle worker or doesn't have pixie dust to cure the Saints' ills.

But heading into his second game as the team's interim coach after serving a six-game suspension for his role in the bounty scandal, Vitt is left to draw from past experiences of serving as Payton's assistant head coach and his own 34 years of NFL coaching to push the Saints back to respectability.

Given the circumstances, Vitt and many Saints players said Payton would simply revert back to his football teachings, demanding that the players work hard and pay attention to detail.

That's exactly how Vitt said he is handling the Saints' disappointing start.

"At some point in time, you really have to go back to some of the basics," Vitt said.

"Calm down. Every year, there's going to be a crisis and a carnival in every season and you prepare for these in the offseason. I've said this before, this program is built from the bottom up with a strong foundation. We've got the right players and the right coaches."

No panic

Although the Saints haven't faced many crisis situations in the Payton era, the players said they've learned from the few in the past by simply taking their cue from Payton.

In 2008, when the Saints sent 17 players to the injured reserve list, Payton managed to divert a crisis by keeping his players from dwelling on the missing teammates. Although the Saints missed the playoffs, they finished with an 8-8 record.

In 2009, the Saints rolled off a franchise-record 13 consecutive wins before closing out the season with three straight losses. The losing streak caused panic from outside the organization. But Payton, known for his array of motivational tactics, tabbed the Saints' first playoff game as a bat game, and the coaching staffed challenged the players to "bring the wood" in the Saints' 45-14 NFC divisional game against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Saints went on to win Super Bowl XLIV.

"For a guy that was unpredictable as a play caller, he was very predicable in here," Strief said. "He was never going to get too high. He was never going to get too down. As a player you don't want to go into work everyday wondering if it was going to be crazy. Are they going to scream? What is it going to be today? He was always very good at that consistency. And I think the team was reflective of that."

Saints linebacker Scott Shanle said he is confident Payton wouldn't go into panic mode because of the losing record.

"Coach Payton always had a calm, some might even say cocky, demeanor," Shanle said. "But I always thought that was great for the team. Obviously, what we have done over the past six years since he has been here, a big reason for that has been because of his personality and the vibe he gives off when he steps into the meeting room.

"Coach Payton never lets you know if something bothers him. You see it on game day. We call him Game Day Sean because he is always aggressive. And I just think that's what we need to be. We can't sit back. We can't be on our heals and wait for the other teams to show us what they are going to do. We need to be aggressive and not be reactive."

Following Payton's lead

Saints quarterback Drew Brees said he knows exactly what Payton would do if the coach was around to witness the team's current situation.

And it's no different than what Vitt and Aaron Kromer, who served as the interim coach for the first six games, have done to keep the team motivated while trying to correct the on-the-field flaws.

"In my mind and for all the guys that have been around Sean, I think you know the things he would be preaching maybe to you and to the team," Brees said. "Joe Vitt has been around Sean Payton longer than all of us, so he knows Sean and so a lot of the things Joe Vitt is saying now are reminiscent of things Sean has said in the past when we've been in tough situations. Maybe it's not something where we are going to hear this specific story, but we've heard some Joe Vitt stories that have been very applicable to our situation."

Saints left tackle Jermon Bushrod agreed, saying the interim coaches have done much of the same things that Payton would have done, down to practice schedules and motivational labeling of certain games as bat games.

Ultimately, the players know they have to take responsibility for how this season in panning out.

"Kromer and Coach Vitt all do a good job of relaying messages that Sean Payton would have relayed to us or he would have said to us," Bushrod said. "At the end of the day I think they have done a great job leading and filling in in an awkward situation. At the end of the day, it's just up to us."

Still, one has to wonder if this would be the week, with the Philadelphia Eagles coming to town for a "Monday Night Football" game, Payton would have pulled out one of his trump motivational cards.

Would this be the week he implored his players to actually "eat" the cheese and take exception to all the negative storylines? Would this be the week he put mirrors in every players' lockers? Would this be the week he wrapped up practice by sending Brees to play safety and linebacker Curtis Lofton to switch to fullback for an impromptu scrimmage?

"He'd do something very similar to what we are doing," Strief said. "There are no easy fixes or easy answers. There is no magic wand to wave. You continue to prepare each week as best we can.

"A lot of times people want to say what's wrong. But that's a complex answer and there are a lot of pieces. At the end of the day, the only way to get better is to work and come in here with the right attitude."